Kiss Me
by Sarae64
Summary: It's Valentine's Day but Jack forgot. Sam/Jack, Holiday/Fluff, Complete


Title: Kiss Me  
Author: Sarae  
Status: Complete  
Category: Romance  
Pairings: Sam/Jack  
Spoilers: Metamorphosis  
Season: 6  
Rating: K  
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, but Jack forgot.  
Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, SciFi Channel, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.  
Author Note: This was just a little fluff for Valentine's Day. This was inspired by my daughter's obsession with the movie "She's All That" and in particular with the song "Kiss Me" by Six-pence None the Richer.

Kiss Me  
© 2003 Sarae

_Valentine's Day 2003_

Jack strolled out of the infirmary with a light bounce in his step. Doctor Fraiser had requested that he stop by before he left for the day. SG-1 had been put on down time since returning from their latest encounter with Nirrti the day before. Sam had insisted she was fine and Janet's examination had revealed no permanent damage, though Sam's hemoglobin was a bit low. Janet had recommended at least 48 hours of time off for rest and recuperation. General Hammond had given them the three days through the weekend and had insisted that Sam leave the base and not return until Monday.

Janet had asked Jack to stop by because she wanted him to drop an iron supplement off to Sam. She wanted Sam to take the pills for the next few weeks to help boost her recovery. She had wanted to drop the pills off herself, but she needed to get home as Cassie had a date and Janet had not yet met the young man who would be taking her daughter out for the evening.

"Sweet!" he thought, as he walked onto the elevator. He'd really wanted to stop by and check on Sam anyway, but now he had a legitimate excuse. He'd gone to the base earlier in the day, believe it or not, to write his mission report. He knew Hammond would need the reports written quickly because he would have to explain the death of Evanov to the Russians. In fact, he knew Hammond was preparing for a meeting in Washington on Monday. He wanted to be sure the General had all the latest information, written up and easily accessible.

Jack walked out of the base and climbed into the driver's seat of his pick up. He started the engine and waited several minutes while the air in the cab warmed and the windows defogged. He had just started driving down the mountain when it dawned on him. Today was Valentine's Day! "For cryin' out loud!" he thought, "How could I forget that?"

A feeling of panic began to arise as he thought about visiting Sam. He'd forgotten about it being Valentine's Day. Well, he had thought of it, but not since before they went on their last trip through the 'gate. He'd thought about Valentine's Day several times before they made their impromptu visit to Alebron's home. He'd considered whether or not to get Carter something. He'd considered what he would get if he decided to get her something. He'd never come to a conclusion. Instead, he'd put the thoughts out of his mind when Evanov's team arrived with Alebron.

While watching Sam suffer from Nirrti's ministrations, Jack had considered many things, but Valentine's Day had been far from his mind. Since returning yesterday, worry over her condition and making sure she took the time he felt she needed to fully recover had kept thoughts of Valentine's Day away. Now he was on his way to her house and he had nothing to give her.

At least he had finally decided he wanted to give her something. At least he'd gotten that far. Now the question was…what? Chocolate, jewelry, a DVD, flowers? Flowers seemed like the best choice, but he knew finding some this late on Valentine's Day would be nearly impossible. Still, he had to try.

The afternoon sun was sinking by the time he drove into town. He went to the flower shop he used to use when he and Sara were married, simply because he was short on time and was aware of no other flower shops. The place was hopping when he walked in. There were a few other customers looking around, but mostly there were employees moving about, gathering arrangements, answering phones, loading delivery vans. He was grateful that it was busy. He didn't want to answer a bunch of questions from a helpful employee. He surveyed his options, took a moment to consider consequences and repercussions and finally decided on a single long stem red rose.

Moments later he was driving to Carter's house with a the rose, wrapped in tissue with a piece of fern and some baby's breath, lying on the seat next to him. Before long he arrived at her house and parked across the street. He peered out the truck at her house and felt concern rise up in him as he noticed no lights on in the house. He didn't want to disturb her if she were sleeping.

He noticed her car parked at the curb in front of the house. Picking up the rose and checking the bottle of pills in his coat pocket, he hopped out of the pick up and walked across the street to her house. As he neared the front door, he heard the sound of a motorcycle engine revving. He stopped short of knocking on the door and listened. The engine revved again and then stopped. Then he heard faint music coming from behind the house.

"Geez, Carter," he thought as he started walking around the house, "rest is a word that isn't in your vocabulary." He knew, without a doubt, that she was out in her garage, working on that cycle she and Siler had taken so much pride in building. He slowed as he approached the garage, hearing music and…was that Carter singing? Jack listened as he walked slowly closer. "Must be a CD that Cassie made for her," Jack thought. He had heard this song so many times even he had the lyrics memorized. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Cassie's infatuation with… "What was that actor's name…Prince? What was the movie again? Ah, hell, who knows? But the song…_Kiss_ _Me_. That I remember."

He couldn't see Sam when he first arrived at the entrance to the garage, but he could hear her. She was definitely singing the song. She was squatting down on the other side of the cycle, tinkering with…something. He stood off to the side of the entrance, lurking in the shadows as she continued to sing.

"_Kiss me, down by the broken tree house. Swing me out on its hanging tire. Bring, bring, bring your fishin' hat. We'll take the trail marked on your father's map. Oh, kiss me…"_

"Whoa! What? Did she just say "fishin' hat"?" he questioned, silently. He knew the real lyrics said "flowered hat". He remembered wondering why a girl would be telling a guy to bring a flowered hat anywhere. Sam stood up rather quickly and he ducked back out of sight, not yet wanting his presence to be known. He knew he should let her know he was there, but this was a side of Carter he rarely got to see and he was not yet ready to break the spell.

"Fishing hat?" he thought again. "Fishing hat. Wonder what else she's thinkin' 'bout?" he mused, his imagination going into overdrive as he watched his Major in a completely relaxed, non-military setting. Her hair was mussed, but then, that wasn't unusual. She had on faded jeans and a baggy sweatshirt. Her nose and cheeks were red from the exposure to the colder temperatures in the garage.

To his surprise, she sang well. He tried to recall if he had ever heard her sing before and could not recall one instance. He could now picture her at his cabin…same jeans and sweatshirt, same mussed, but adorable hair. Only he was picturing the glow in her cheeks coming from a cozy fire in his fireplace. He could picture her singing as she puttered around the kitchen.

"Cool it, Jack," he admonished himself. "Don't do this to yourself…" The last trip through the 'gate had been particularly hard on him. There had been a moment when he'd nearly given up hope. When he saw Nirrti's broken form on the ground, it had nearly broken him. Even now, he couldn't think about what might have happened…and he didn't want to. Instead, he wanted to think about her in a way he wasn't supposed to. He wanted to imagine a day when he could walk in and greet her with a kiss and an embrace, when he could spend time each day telling her how amazing and beautiful she was, when he could love her to the best of his ability, even if it wasn't as well as she deserved to be loved.

He knew he shouldn't think about such things, but such thoughts were comforting and pleasing. Those same thoughts were also tormenting and frustrating. Thoughts of her came to him at all times, in all places and in all situations. He didn't work at generating them. In fact, he often worked to push them aside.

She began moving toward a ladder closer to the garage entrance. He could see her 'dancing' her way toward the ladder. She was in no hurry, moving in perfect beat with the music. The song, all too soon, ended. Another began to play, causing her to utter a growl of distaste. She stopped her progress toward the ladder opting to walk toward the CD player instead. She pressed the reverse search button and _Kiss Me_ began playing again.

Jack was mesmerized. She began dancing toward the ladder once more, singing again. He was running options through his head. He wanted to let her know he was there, but he didn't want to stop her. He didn't want to embarrass her. So, he continued to watch in fascination and indecision. What was it about her that always caused him to second-guess himself? How was it that after all these years, she could still surprise him, still make him curious about all the others things about her that he still did not know?

He watched for several more minutes as she reached the ladder at last and ascended to retrieve something that was stored on a makeshift shelf in the rafters. As she began to descend, the ladder started to wobble slightly and Jack rushed toward the ladder, hoping to avert a fall. She stopped singing, steadied herself on the ladder and quickly descended, hopping off the ladder a few steps from the bottom.

She turned quickly, sensing the presence of another and was shocked to find the Colonel reaching his arms around her to steady the ladder. She involuntarily sucked in her breath as she turned and found herself face to face with him. In that moment while neither of them were breathing, she saw concern in his eyes and something else. In a move that surprised them both, he reached his right hand up to gently grasp the back of her neck, his right thumb gently caressing her cheek in front of her ear.

Alarms were going off in both his head and hers as he moved forward to kiss her. He was half-afraid she would pull back, but pleasantly surprised when she didn't. Instead, she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and dropping the part she had just obtained from the rafters.

He moved his arm down to her shoulder and under her arm as he pulled her closer to him, wrapping both arms around her. The left arm, hand still holding the rose, wrapped around her waist as his right hand moved slowly up and down her back. The heat that began to rise from deep within him set the alarms off in his head again and with a great effort, he placed his hand on her hips and gently pushed her away from him.

Her eyes were still closed as she slid her hands to cup his face and moved her forehead to rest on his. He heard her take in a slow, deep breath in an effort to calm herself and he followed her lead.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, as he exhaled the breath that had done little to squelch his desire.

"Don't be," she whispered back. She stood up straighter then, and looked into his eyes. Her eyes shined brightly, and a small smile graced her face. "I wasn't expecting to see you," she said at last.

"Uh," Jack blinked, trying to remember why he had come in the first place, "yeah, well uh, Doc wanted me to drop these by," he said, and began fumbling with his pocket, looking for the bottle of pills Janet had asked him to deliver. It was then that he remembered the rose he held in his left hand. He saw that she too, had just noticed it.

"Uh," he stammered awkwardly. He handed the somewhat crumpled tissue wrapped rose to her and said, "Happy Valentine's Day." Then he looked away and found the damn pills that seemed to have disappeared just seconds before.

Sam was stunned by his gift and momentarily unable to speak. Though her eyes spoke volumes and the smile that spread across her face added the chorus. "Thank you," she said and he waited to hear the word he now dreaded hearing when he wasn't on duty. But it didn't come. He's steeled himself to hear it, closing his eyes, momentarily, but he heard only silence. He opened his eyes and smiled back at her.

"Oh, Janet wanted me to give you these," he said as he handed her the bottle. "She says you should take one a day until they are gone."

Sam nodded as she accepted the bottle.

"OK…well…I should go," he said, pointing toward the door.

Sam nodded, reluctantly. Neither wanted him to go, but both knew it was for the best. They stood face to face for a moment, just wanting the moment to last a bit longer. Then Jack smiled and walked away.

The End


End file.
